Wales’ Most Erotic Poet?

Not a sentence you thought you’d ever read, right? Besides the Welsh have a reputation as a god-fearing, pure and moral people. Yet, travel back to the middle of the 15th century, 1460 to be exact and you’d witness the birth of Gwerful Mechain. She is the only Welsh female poet from which we have a substantial body of work remaining.

Very little is known of her life, however, she was probably born and lived in Mechain in Powys. A member of a noble family from Llanfechain, she had three brothers and one sister, she married and had one child, a daughter named Mawd.

All pretty normal, except Gwerful wrote poetry about religion and sex. Unsurprisingly, her most famous works concern sex. Her most famous poem, called Cywydd y Cedor/Poem to the Vagina, should give you some idea of the subjects of her work. This was a woman who wrote in her own name, long before individuals like George Eliot felt compelled to use a male name to publish their works. Gwerful had many male peers too and she often engaged in ymrysonau (debates or poetic competitions) with those male poets suggesting those men certainly regarded her as an equal. Although her poems were not published and so she doesn’t claim the honour of being the first Welsh female poet to be published, she must be regarded as a poetic trailblazer, not just for her being a woman but also for her subject matter which even male poets refrained from writing about (as she makes clear).

I have included the poem Cywydd y Cedor in both English and Welsh so you may get a flavour of her poetry:

Clearly, a warning here that this poem is not safe for work is appropriate.

Every foolish drunken poet,

boorish vanity without ceasing,

(never may I warrant it,

I of great noble stock,)

has always declaimed fruitless praise

in song of the girls of the lands

all day long, certain gift,

most incompletely, by God the Father:

praising the hair, gown of fine love,

and every such living girl,

and lower down praising merrily

the brows above the eyes;

praising also, lovely shape,

the smoothness of the soft breasts,

and the beauty's arms, bright drape,

she deserved honour, and the girl's hands.

Then with his finest wizardry

before night he did sing,

he pays homage to God's greatness,

fruitless eulogy with his tongue:

leaving the middle without praise

and the place where children are conceived,

and the warm quim, clear excellence,

tender and fat, bright fervent broken circle,

where I loved, in perfect health,

the quim below the smock.

You are a body of boundless strength,

a faultless court of fat's plumage.

I declare, the quim is fair,

circle of broad-edged lips,

it is a valley longer than a spoon or a hand,

a ditch to hold a penis two hands long;

cunt there by the swelling arse,

song's table with its double in red.

And the bright saints, men of the church,

when they get the chance, perfect gift,

don't fail, highest blessing,

by Beuno, to give it a good feel.

For this reason, thorough rebuke,

all you proud poets,

let songs to the quim circulate

without fail to gain reward.

Sultan of an ode, it is silk,

little seam, curtain on a fine bright cunt,

flaps in a place of greeting,

the sour grove, it is full of love,

very proud forest, faultless gift,

tender frieze, fur of a fine pair of testicles,

a girl's thick grove, circle of precious greeting,

lovely bush, God save it.

Pob rhyw brydydd, dydd dioed,

mul frwysg, wladaidd rwysg erioed,

noethi moliant, nis gwrantwyf,

anfeidrol reiol yr wyf,

am gerdd merched y gwledydd

a wnaethant heb ffyniant ffydd

yn anghwbl iawn, ddawn ddiwad,

ar hyd y dydd, rho Duw Dad:

moli gwallt, cwnsallt ceinserch,

a phob cyfryw sy fyw o ferch,

ac obry moli heb wg

yr aeliau uwchlaw'r olwg;

moli hefyd, hyfryd dwf,

foelder dwyfron feddaldwf,

a breichiau gwen, len loywlun,

dylai barch, a dwylaw bun.

Yno o'i brif ddewiniaeth

cyn y nos canu a wnaeth,

Duw er ei radd a'i addef,

diffrwyth wawd o'i dafawd ef:

gadu'r canol heb foliant

a'r plas lle'r enillir plant,

a'r cedor clyd, rhagor claer,

tynerdew, cylch twn eurdaer,

lle carwn i, cywrain iach,

y cedor dan y cadach.

Corff wyd diball ei allu,

cwrt difreg o'r bloneg blu.

Llyma 'ynghred, teg y cedawr,

cylch gweflau ymylau mawr,

pant yw hwy na llwy na llaw,

clawdd i ddal cal ddwy ddwylaw;

cont yno wrth din finffloch,

dabl y gerdd â'i dwbl o goch.

Ac nid arbed, freisged frig,

y gloywsaint, gwyr eglwysig

mewn cyfle iawn, ddawn ddifreg,

myn Beuno, ei deimlo'n deg.

Am hyn o chwaen, gaen gerydd,

y prydyddion sythion sydd,

gadewch heb ffael er cael ced

gerddau cedor i gerdded.

Sawden awdl, sidan ydiw,

sêm fach, len ar gont wen wiw,

lleiniau mewn man ymannerch,

y llwyn sur, llawn yw o serch,

fforest falch iawn, ddawn ddifreg,

ffris ffraill, ffwrwr dwygaill deg,

breisglwyn merch, drud annerch dro,

berth addwyn, Duw'n borth iddo.